A wide variety of patented approaches to ink tags is presently known, most having in common the containment of a theft-deterrent substance in one or more frangible containers, e.g., tubes or vials comprised of glass or rigid plastic disposed in a housing of the tag. The housing is secured to the article to be protected by attachment structure of a type which is releasable upon use of specialized release devices by authorized personnel.
Predecessor devices to ink tags which employed frangible tubes involved, as the article protected, bank vaults or safes. These devices taught two modes of vial fracturing, which have carried over into the ink tag designs.
In a first mode, evidenced in Loehle U.S. Pat. No. 4,299,176, a pin passes through the vial container, free of contact with the vials, to a rear side of the vial container, where the pin is secured by a locking device. The pin has vial-fracturing discs associated therewith in opposed facing relation to the vials. Efforts to attack the protected article which result in movement of the pin cause compressive fracture of the vials between the discs and the expelling of theft-deterrent substance therefrom
In a second mode, evidenced also in the Loehle patent, attacks upon the integrity of the vial-containing compartment impart fracturing forces to the vials, without reliance on pin movement as the cause of vial fracture.
Known ink tags involving the first fracture mode include, e.g., Hogan U.S. Pat. No. 4,944,075 and Hogan et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,054,172.
In the '075 patent, balls are provided between a pinhead and ink-containing vials and guide channels are formed in the device for movement of the balls, the channels being configured for enabling the pinhead to force the balls into rupturing engagement with the vials upon excess separating force being applied as between the pinhead and its locking member.
In the '172 patent, a pinhead includes a breaker element having a contoured surface for applying rupturing force to the vials upon excess separating force being applied as between the pinhead and its locking member. In use of either described ink tag, the housing containing the vials is secured to one side of an article to be protected by passing the pin therethrough and a locking member secures the pin therein on the opposite side of the article.
One known ink tag involving the second fracture mode in a first setting, wherein the attack on the vial housing is the imposition of force thereon, is set forth in Charlot et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,031,287. In the '287 patent, the vial-containing housing has structure giving rise to ready flexure in a plurality of predetermined housing-flexure directions as opposed to other flexure directions and individual vials are disposed in alignment respectively with the easier flexure directions, whereby it is said that a vial fractures upon the housing being subjected to flexing in any one of the predetermined housing-flexure directions, as might occur in an attempt to remove the housing from its locking member.
Other prior art ink tag patents involving the second fracture mode in such first setting include Wisecup U.S. Pat. No. 4,670,950, Heaton et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,649,397 and Gustaffson et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,483,049. Substance-dispensing openings, e.g., apertures extending into the housings and in communication with the vials, are common in these ink tags.
The second fracture mode is also known in a second setting, wherein the attack on the vial housing is, as in the Loehle patent, an attack on the integrity of the housing. Apt references here include Marshall U.S. Pat. No. 4,698,620 and Freed U.S. Pat. No. 4,603,326. The devices of these patents contrast with the devices involving the second fracture mode in the first setting in that the housing is not provided with substance-dispensing openings until the point of deterioration of the housing integrity.
The more desirable ink tags, from a practical viewpoint, as respects both manufacturing efficiency and use-effectiveness, are the ink tags of the first fracture mode.
However, as alluded to above, all of the above-referenced theft-deterrent devices of the first fracture mode (and of the second fracture mode, first setting type) have a common problem, i.e., exposure of the contained vials to the possibility of fracture in normal handling through the insertion of objects into fracturing engagement therewith through the requisite theft-deterrent substance-dispensing openings. Thus, each of the devices of these ink tags has an opening or a series of openings in its housing requisite for issuing the deterrent substance on theft attempts. The problem is recognized particularly in the referenced Charlot et al. '287 patent where structure is said to be provided for recessing the vials from such issuance openings. Although not discussed as such in the '287 patent, the above-noted Gustavsson '049 patent will be seen to likewise recess its vials from the issuance openings.
The assignee hereof has long provided the industry with electronic article surveillance (EAS) tags, i.e., tags which incorporate means responsive to incident energy to transmit alarm-indicating signals to remote apparatus to thereby generate alarm indication on efforts to unauthorizedly separate the tags from articles to which the tags are applied. Such EAS tags have also been equipped with means for themselves outputting alarm indication on such unauthorized separation efforts. The assignee has also provided the industry with what it terms "ink tacks", i.e., devices attachable to articles for ink dispensing on such unauthorized separation efforts, and has afforded the industry further products which combine the EAS capacity and the ink dispensing capacity, by adapting the ink tack for joinder with the EAS tag, a common locking member affixing both such components to the article to be protected. Thus, the invention herein, specific to the ink dispensing structure, is termed an "ink tack". Various of the above discussed prior art devices incorporate both ink dispensing and EAS facilities, but the distinction as between tag and tack is not recognized in the prior art.